


The Story of Datlof

by Ceylar



Series: The World of Datlof [3]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Blood and Injury, Gen, Illnesses, Injury Recovery, Long Shot, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Phobias, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Racism, Racist Language, Serious Injuries, Slow To Update, Torture, but major tags that i know will help people with triggers and such i'll add now, i promise it's not gonna be as bad as the tags make it seem there's gonna be fluff and happiness too, i'll update as and when i write chapters, some of these characters only have small roles but i wanted to include them anyway, tags are gonna be a mess and i'll update them as i go, there's a lot that happens in this fic so buckle up buddies, there's probably someone i've missed but i think i've got the main players
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:40:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ceylar/pseuds/Ceylar
Summary: Trying again from the ashes of Thank You, Friend. Perspectives will jump around, but will mostly stick with Rythian as I will unashamedly admit he's my favourite character.Welcome to The Story of Datlof where magic blossoms, friends come and go, lives happen and everyone deals with the effects of Being Alive.
Relationships: Duncan Jones/Kim Richards, Joakim Hellstrand/Original Male Character, Lalnable Hector/Specimen 5, Lewis Brindley/Hannah Rutherford, Zoey Proasheck/Fiona Riches
Series: The World of Datlof [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/902010
Kudos: 2





	The Story of Datlof

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Various Yogscast members and series](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/717043) by The Yogscast. 



> In which Rythian arrives from The End

The sun was shining - a rare occurrence in Datlof, often dubbed the City of Rain. And taking in to account the time of year, the sunny weather was even more surprising, though that didn’t mean it wouldn’t suddenly change and the rain would come pouring down. The small puddles and damp patches on the ground were a reminder of that, as were the clouds that quickly sped across the sky.

Taking advantage of the nice weather, Hannah had persuaded Lewis, and by extension Simon, to go outside to the park for lunch. Though in all reality, Simon had helped with the persuading. Lal had refused to come, though Hannah wasn’t exactly surprised, she knew he didn’t like her and the feeling was mutual. So sans Lal, the trio had headed to the park, pausing along the way to buy some sandwiches from a small corner shop. And now they were sat on a bench in the park, looking up at the sky and hoping the weather wouldn’t suddenly turn on them, like it was so liable to do. And sat behind them, with a head tucked under a wing as she napped, was a large incredibly unusually coloured owl, with tawny feathers that faded to blue at the tips.

“Well I didn’t think running a business with my friends would be quite this much work.” Lewis grumbled lightheartedly, closing his blue eyes as Simon elbowed him in his side. Lewis was incredibly tall and thin with pale skin that contrasted sharply with his swept back dark hair and thin beard. He was leaning into Hannah, who’s arm was draped over his shoulder, her hand occasionally reaching up to play about with the ends of his hair. And although Lewis had freckles scattered over his cheeks, to the casual observer they often went unnoticed.  
  
“Ah, but without me, where would you have got the money to even start up Yoglabs in the first place?” Simon asked with a grin as Lewis sighed. Next to Lewis, Simon was tiny. Though being a dwarf, Simon would look tiny next to nearly everyone. And despite being small, and rather rotund, he was clearly stronger than the average person, with strong arm muscles on show with his refusal to wear a shirt, even now after years of having lived in the city and among humans. Though he did cave in winter when temperatures dropped past freezing and snow often fell from the sky. Simon was munching on a packet of Jaffa Cakes, occasionally knocking the crumbs from his ginger beard down to the floor. And while he was also pale skinned, he managed to not be as pasty as Lewis beside him.

“You’re right friend.”  
  
“Of course I’m right.”

Hannah chuckled softly as she listened to the pair talking. She hadn’t quite realised when she’d started dating Lewis that Simon would be included in that, the pair were rarely seen apart, but she didn’t mind. Simon was a joy to be around, always joking and smiling and had this magical ability to be able to cheer up almost everyone on a bad day. And now she was glad to consider him a friend. Hannah herself was in many ways the average one out of the three. She was tall for a woman, but trapped between Lewis’s towering height, and Simon’s short stature as a dwarf, she seemed rather average. And neither was she overly skinny like Lewis, or more rotund and muscled like Simon. She was strong, not quite as strong as Simon, but she also didn’t flaunt it like Simon did. And aside from that, being seen without a shirt in April would be an incredibly strange sight. Even her skin, still pale, seemed to occupy a middle ground between Simon and Lewis. As a small breeze blew past the trio, a few strands of her blond hair blew across her face and she reached up to tuck the stray hair behind her ear. Behind her, Athena, the owl, ruffled her feathers unhappily at the breeze, poking her head up from her wing for a moment as she glared out at her surroundings, though settled down a moment later at a gentle scritch on the back of the neck from Hannah, who’d reached back almost as soon as Athena had moved to gently stroke her.

“It’s alright, you’re doing a wonderful job at running Yoglabs so far.” Hannah said, giving Lewis a small kiss on his cheek as he smiled almost bashfully, both from the praise and then the kiss.

“Mm, though I think we might be starting to outgrow the building we’re currently in, Lal’s taking up 3 rooms all by himself, never mind all the space I’m taking up, and all the other employees.” Lewis grumbled again.

Yoglabs was a joint creation from Lewis, Lal and Simon. After having traveled to the moon, and made names for themselves amongst the scientific community, there’d been a small lull period where they weren’t sure where to go or what to do. Lewis and Lal both wanted to continue their passions in science, and Simon was happy to tag along with them; he’d never been interested in science further than his dream of wanting to go to the moon but he loved his friends and wanted to stay with them. And after a few months of discussing, and deciding that there wasn’t really enough space for all their experiments in the Jaffa Fort, they’d decided to create Yoglabs; a place where they, and others, could create and innovate and hopefully through those innovations create new technologies and progress the field of science further and help others in their day to day life.

Of course all of that required money, and lots of it. Which is where Simon came into the grand scheme. Being a dwarf, he had a grand knowledge of all the metals and materials that could be found underneath the feet of people passing by. And in the months spent mining for materials to repair the spaceship, and later on when he went mining to occupy his time while Lewis and Lal were working, he’d amassed a rather large collection of all sorts of rare materials and metals. Enough that when sold off, the trio had money to spare in the creation of Yoglabs and supporting it in its infancy.

Yoglabs as a company had only recently started making a profit, finally able to stop relying so much on Simon’s funding, but now that it was making a profit, and beginning to grow, it was beginning to grow rather exponentially. More and more people wanted to be part of the innovative Yoglabs, and more people wanted a share of what was clearly becoming a rather successful company.

“Have you considered moving then?” Hannah asked, a small smile on her lips as she played about with Lewis’s hair a little more. Lewis grumbled softly under his breath for a moment.

“Of course. But there’s so much involved with finding a new building, like moving all the equipment, making sure experiments and inventions aren’t damaged or ruined during the move. And that’s all on top of actually finding a building big enough to house everyone, plus whatever extra growth there is.” Lewis sighed and leant into Hannah a little more. “Though maybe it can wait for a little while, at least until maybe I can get Lal to help out too. He is joint CEO after all.”

Hannah patted Lewis’s shoulder comfortingly, still smiling softly. “I can always help out a little too, if you need it. Though I’m not going to be becoming Co-CEO or anything like that, I’ve already got a job thanks.” She added on with a chuckle. Lewis sighed again.

“I don’t want to burden you with whatever chaos comes from moving Yoglabs to a different building.” He said tiredly, though smiled softly as Hannah gave him another small kiss on his cheek.

Though just a moment later Hannah blinked and looked up and across the park, a small frown on her face as behind her Athena lifted her own head, staring unblinkingly in the same direction as Hannah. Both Lewis and Simon looked up at Hannah and Lewis frowned slightly as Simon glanced off to the same direction Hannah was looking.

“What is it?” Lewis asked, still frowning as Simon turned to look back towards Hannah.

“Oh! Just something I need to check on, that’s all.” Hannah replied, her frown fading from her face as she smiled at Lewis.

“Something you need to check on? Sounds a little dodgy if you ask me.” Simon said with a small chuckle.  
  
“It’s not really. I just felt something with my magic, that’s all.” Hannah explained a little further as she smiled over at Simon. “I just want to check on it, make sure it’s nothing I need to worry about.”  
  
While Hannah seemed perfectly normal to most people, and really she was, she had two jobs. Her first job was working as a journalist, one she’d got straight out of university and she loved it. Her second job was a little more unorthodox, and she was currently the only person in Datlof with this job. This second job paid horribly, it didn’t even pay at all. Really, it was more like volunteer work than actual work. When she’d first moved to Datlof, Hannah had been appalled by the amount of crime going on within the city, and decided she wanted to do something about it. Being rather skilled magically, and having her familiar, Athena, she’d decided she was probably well equipped to deal with any criminals. And thanks to her vigilante ways, crime in the city had dropped, though the police were a little less than thrilled, feeling she was somewhat overstepping her boundaries as a civilian. But that hadn’t stopped her yet, and she was always on the look out for trouble, or someone who could potentially cause trouble. Because as good and as skilled as she was at fighting, she liked to avoid it if possible. If she could talk someone down from something before they did it, then that was a win in her books.

“Well, we’ll let you go off and investigate.” Lewis said, stretching his arms above his head as he sat up. Another gust of breeze and a big black cloud sliding across the sun caused him to frown upwards. “And it looks like it’s going to start raining again.” He added on in a grumble as Simon chuckled.

“Yeah, I won’t keep you away from work any longer.” Hannah said with a smile, leaning over and giving Lewis’s cheek a kiss. Standing up, Athena made the small hop from the back of the bench onto Hannah’s arm, feathers fluffed up from the colder wind, but waking up a little more now.

“Hooray. Back to work.” Lewis grumbled dramatically, leaning back on the bench as Simon giggled, poking him in the side.

“You’ll forget you’re working in five minutes.” He said as Hannah nodded in agreement.  
  
“I’ll meet you after work, yeah?” Hannah said as Lewis sat himself back up with a nod of agreement. “Oh, of course unless this thing happens to take a lot of time, but I don’t think it should.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you after work.” Lewis promised, giving Hannah a smile, one she returned.  
  
“Alright, I’ll see you later. Love you.”  
  
“Love you. And stay safe.”

And with that, Athena flew up into the air and Hannah pulled a pair of goggles out of her pockets and put them on, protecting her eyes as her arms began to shift and morph, feathers sprouting and growing longer until she had long wings instead of arms. The feathers were the same colour as Athena’s own feathers and with a couple of strong beats, Hannah rose up from the ground and soared through the skies, shouts of farewell from Simon coming from below. Hannah circled once before heading in the direction of the strong aura she’d felt, Athena flying in place beside her. Familiar magic often allowed the owner to take on aspects of their familiar, a better sense of balance from someone who owned a cat, a stronger sense of smell from the owner of a dog, or better night vision from someone who owned an owl, though only those with incredibly strong bonds between themselves and their familiar and a lot of natural magic could take that further. Transformations that allowed someone to fly, like Hannah could with Athena, were incredibly rare. Though Hannah had always been naturally gifted at magic, and she’d raised Athena from an egg and the bond the pair shared was much closer than most had with their familiar and the two were never seen apart from one another.

Hannah and Athena effortlessly soared through the darkening skies, the threat of rain coming closer and closer, though it was holding off for the moment. Swooping through the air, Hannah adjusted her angle, aiming downwards to where she could pinpoint the aura to be coming from. On Portal Road, right there in front of the End Portal. Gliding by, she caught sight of a dark skinned man. He was the source of the aura. Everyone who had magic emitted an aura, though only those who were exceptionally powerful emitted a strong or noticeable aura. So just from that, Hannah could tell a lot about this man. Circling around, she came down to land in a small alley just off the side of Portal Road, the feathers falling away from her arms as she stretched them out in front of her. Tucking her goggles back in her pocket, Athena landed on her shoulder as she stepped out onto Portal Road, making her way over to the man, weaving her way through the crowds.

Now that she was on the ground she could tell he was incredibly tall, almost as tall as Lewis, and his dark skin seemed to hold almost a blue tint to it. And instead of his hair being black like she’d originally assumed, it was actually a deep brown and was swept back from his face.  
  
“Hello there!” Hannah called out as she approached the man, causing him to turn and look towards her, allowing her to finally catch sight of his face, and his bright blue eyes, blinking a little in the daylight.

“Oh, uh, hello…” The man responded softly, and a little awkwardly too. His voice was thick with an accent she didn’t recognise and it was clear English wasn’t his first language. Seeing that he seemed a little lost, and nervous, she gave him a friendly smile and stopped a respectable distance away.  
  
“You’re from the End, aren’t you?” Hannah asked, still smiling at the man. Looking at him more, it was clear he was still quite young, maybe even younger than twenty. He clearly wasn’t any kind of threat she’d needed to worry about, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. And now she might be making a new friend.

“Yes, I am…” He replied, giving Hannah a small and tentative smile.

“Well, on behalf of everyone here in Datlof, I’d like to welcome you here. My name’s Hannah, and this is my familiar Athena.” She introduced, gently stroking Athena before looking back at the man.

“I am, uh, my name is Rythian.” Rythian said, giving Hannah a slight bow of his head. “I have come here to learn your magic…”  
  
“Really? That’s awesome!” Hannah said before gesturing off to the side. “We’re a little in the way here, perhaps we could move to the side a little?”

Rythian paused before nodding and he followed Hannah’s lead as she stepped to the side, so they weren’t directly in the flow of pedestrian traffic. As they stepped to the side, a couple of raindrops began to fall slowly from the sky, causing the pair to both look up.  
  
“I’m afraid rain is one thing you’ll have to get used to, here in Datlof.” Hannah said with a chuckle as Rythian watched the rain, a little wide eyed. “Do you have rain in the End?”

Mutely Rythian shook his head, holding out his hand to watch the raindrops land on him, the rain slowly beginning to grow heavier. Hannah was a little surprised at Rythian’s response, though she had heard stories that they didn’t really have weather in the End, and all their water was sourced from deep underground. Smiling softly, she let him experience his first rain for a little while longer before speaking up again.  
  
“I hope you don’t mind my asking, but do you have a plan of where to stay?” Rythian blinked as Hannah spoke up again, turning to look at her.

“I, have some money…” He said, frowning slightly. Really he didn’t have any kind of plan at all. He barely knew what Datlof was like.  
  
“Maybe a cheap hotel then, until you can find somewhere more permanent.” Hannah mused softly before giving Rythian a smile. “I can help you if you want.” She offered. She didn’t want to pressure him into accepting help if he didn’t want it, but he seemed a little lost. And while she could hardly imagine what it would be like to come to a completely different realm, where everyone spoke a different language, she imagined it must be difficult.  
  
Rythian gave Hannah another small smile and a slight nod. “I do not know what there is for shelter… it seems, very different from home…” He said, his smile turning to a small frown as he looked around the city. Hannah smiled softly again.

“Come with me. I’ll take you to a relatively cheap but nice hotel you can stay in temporarily. It’ll get us out of the rain too.” She said, gesturing for Rythian to follow her as she set off at a relatively slow pace so he could keep up and wouldn’t get lost. Rythian began following after Hannah, sticking close to her as they made their way through the streets. “I know you’ve just arrived here, and probably need to spend some time finding your feet, but I’d be more than happy to help you if you want. Or even if you just want someone to have a friendly conversation with.” She offered.

Rythian blinked before smiling, his face lighting up. “Thank you!” He said, his reaction causing Hannah to chuckle very softly.  
  
“I also know a fair bit about magic. I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but if you’re here to learn more about magic, I’d be very happy to help you with that too.” She added on as Athena flew up from her shoulder to slowly glide through their air above their heads.

“Oh, thank you very much!” Rythian said, his face lighting up even more as Hannah smiled, turning her gaze to Athena as she swooped through the sky.

“But first, let’s get you a hotel room for at least tonight.” She said, looking back at Rythian and smiling as he smiled back. “After that’s sorted I can try and help you sort something out for longer term.” She offered, causing Rythian to smile again.  
  
“Thank you very much!” He beamed, still following after Hannah as she lead him through the streets.  
  
“Forgive me if I’m being rude, but you seem rather young to have left home to come to Datlof all by yourself?” Hannah inquired, glancing over at Rythian as the rain grew steadily heavier, the crowds on the streets slowly thinning as people moved inside to avoid the rain, and those who didn’t, were hurrying along, or clutching umbrellas in their hands.  
  
“I am seventeen years old… I can look after myself.” Rythian replied, though not defensively. Hannah nodded slightly in response. 

“Oh, I’ve no doubt about that, I’m just not sure on the customs in the End. Is seventeen a typical age to move out?”  
  
Rythian frowned slightly, seemingly a little confused by Hannah’s question. “Move out? Move out of the End?” Hannah shook her head, smiling a little apologetically.  
  
“I meant move out of your family home. Not necessarily the End.” She clarified as Rythian blinked in understanding.  
  
“Oh. Maybe a little young.”

“You’re pretty brave for trying this then. Moving all the way to another realm all by yourself.” Rythian glanced down a little shyly as Hannah smile. Glancing back up she was glad to see the hotel nearing, as the rain was showing no sign of letting up any time soon, and she and Rythian were already pretty soaked. “The hotel’s just up there.” She said, pointing ahead to where the building was, Rythian squinting through the rain to look at it. “I’ll help you get a room there for a couple of nights and then perhaps we can talk a little more about your plans. I don’t want to just leave you all alone.” She chuckled softly as she mentally called for Athena to come and land on her shoulder, Athena swooping gracefully through the air before landing carefully, ruffling her feathers and shaking rain droplets everywhere.  
  
“Your bird is very beautiful…” Rythian murmured softly, watching Athena almost a little star stuck as she puffed up her feathers proudly.  
  
“Thank you.” Hannah replied with a wide and genuine smile. “She’s called Athena and she’s my familiar. You can stroke her if you’d like.” She offered as she stepped inside the hotel, holding the door for Rythian as Athena ruffled her feathers again, shaking even more rain droplets from her.  
  
Rythian stepped through the door, clearly glad to be out of the rain, before he reached out and very carefully and gently gave Athena a small stroke, smiling very softly.  
  
“She is very lovely.” Rythian murmured, smiling at Hannah as she beamed back. “And, I am glad to be out of the rain…” He admitted with a small frown as Hannah chuckled in response.  
  
“I don’t blame you. It would be a good idea to buy an umbrella for yourself, rain is very common here in Datlof and it’s not fun getting drenched in every downpour.” She advised as Rythian nodded with a small frown, clearly taking her advice to heart. Gesturing for Rythian to follow, she stepped towards the front desk of the hotel, where a receptionist was typing away at a computer. “Come on, let’s get you a room sorted.” She said as Rythian followed after her, looking almost curiously around at his surroundings. It was very different from home.

* * *

After getting a room sorted, a process that Hannah mostly dealt with with Rythian standing by and not really understanding what was going on, but incredibly grateful for the help, the pair headed up to Rythian’s room, Hannah letting Rythian have a quick look around as she leant against the wall, smiling softly. It was a standard hotel room with a double bed, a small wardrobe and desk and a small bathroom with toilet, sink and shower. Nothing fancy and Hannah knew that nearly every room in this hotel would look identical, but Rythian’s eyes were wide as he looked around and peered out of the window at the street below.  
  
“It’s not fancy, but it will do for now and it’s yours for the next three nights.” Hannah explained with a smile as Rythian turned back to her, nodding slightly. “If you want to stay in Datlof long term though, I’d suggest trying to find somewhere to rent. It’ll be much cheaper than staying in a hotel. And you’ll also want to try and find a job.” She added on as Rythian nodded again, though he looked a little bewildered at what she was saying, causing her to smile softly.  
  
“I can understand this is a lot, and I don’t blame you. I’m happy to offer any kind of advice or help you might want, and as I said before, I’m happy to help teach you some of the magic I know too, as I know that’s the reason you said you came here.” She said as Rythian nodded at her again.  
  
“Where do you live?” Rythian asked, though as Hannah frowned slightly in confusion at the question he looked a little distressed at her response. “I am sorry, was that not correct to ask?”  
  
“Not at all, I’m just a little confused as to why you’re asking, that’s all.” Hannah said, shaking her head and offering Rythian a gentle smile.  
  
“So I can contact you…” Rythian replied, frowning softly, now a little confused himself. Was that not how people contacted each other here in Datlof? They didn’t just visit each other’s homes?

“Oh! Oh, I’m assuming you don’t have a phone, do you?” Hannah asked with a small chuckle as Rythian frowned.  
  
“What’s a phone?”  
  
“I take it the End’s not big on technology.” Hannah said with a small chuckle as Rythian hesitated before he shook his head slightly, still frowning. “Teaching you about phones seems like a task for another day, so for now I’ll give you my address, ok?” She said, moving over to the desk where she grabbed the free pen and paper that was lying there, quickly writing down her address for him.

“Thank you very much.” Rythian said, smiling over at Hannah, even if he was still rather bewildered at what a phone was.  
  
Hannah smiled again before she moved back over to the door to the room. “I’m happy to stay with you longer if you want, but I understand if for now you want to settle in and get a little more adjusted to everything.” She offered, knowing how tiring it could be getting all this sorted as well as moving to a brand new place.  
  
Rythian hesitated before he nodded slightly. “I think I would like some time to adjust…” He admitted softly before giving Hannah a small apologetic smile.  
  
“That’s perfectly alright. I can come by tomorrow if you’d like, and help you get more settled here?” She offered as Athena cooed softly, clearly hoping for a goodbye scritch as she flapped her wings slightly.  
  
“Thank you, I would appreciate it.” Rythian said with a grateful smile, Hannah nodding.  
  
“Alright, I’ll come by at eleven for you.” She promised with a smile, giving Athena a small fuss to placate her in lieu of Rythian doing it. “But for now goodbye, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said, giving Rythian a smile and a wave as she opened the door, Rythian waving in response.

The door closed behind Hannah and Rythian was left in silence, standing a little awkwardly as he looked at the door, almost a little lost for what to do next. The only things he knew about Datlof were the occasional stories he’d heard from back home, and what little Hannah had told him just now. But it was so different and he had no idea where to go from here. After a few more quiet moments of thought, Rythian was shaken out of his thoughts by a rumble from his stomach. Ah, food. Well, that was as good as any place to start really.  
  
Rythian began moving about the room, putting his bag into a corner, he’d deal with that later, though as he opened it up to get some of his money, he saw the purple scarf his mother had made for him, lying on top of everything else. A sudden and intense pang of homesickness washed over him and he picked up the scarf, pressing his face into it as he closed his eyes tightly, breathing in the smell of home for a few moments. He could always go home if this was too hard for him. But then he remembered the argument he’d had with his best friend just before leaving. He couldn’t return home a failure, he couldn’t prove that they’d been right all along. Drawing in a deep breath and steeling himself, he loosely wrapped the scarf around his neck and gathered up his money, and the small strange card that would allow him to get back into his room, tucking them safely into his pockets.  
  
Taking another deep breath Rythian left the room, and hesitantly headed downstairs back to the reception where he awkwardly walked up to the desk, the receptionist behind giving him a polite smile.  
  
“Can I help you Sir?” They asked once Rythian was at the desk.  
  
“Where can I find food?” Rythian asked softly and a little hesitantly, wondering if it would be a stupid question to ask and he’d just get laughed at.  
  
“The hotel has a restaurant on the first floor, though if you want to eat elsewhere I can show you the locations of other nearby restaurants.” The receptionist explained to a slightly baffled Rythian as they pulled out a map of the city, beginning to circle locations and explaining the kind of food they served.  
  
“Do I have to eat in a, a restaurant?” Rythian asked hesitantly, frowning slightly, not entirely sure what a restaurant was, but gathering you sat down and ate there, which wasn’t exactly what he wanted.  
  
The receptionist frowned slightly, a little confused by Rythian’s response before smiling politely again a moment later. “Of course not. There’s a nearby Tesco here if you want to buy your own food.” They explained, circling this latest location on the map for Rythian who nodded slightly as he took the map, frowning down slightly at it. “Will that be everything for you Sir?”

Rythian nodded slightly as he turned to leave, though paused as he looked back up at the receptionist. “Thank you.” He murmured.  
  
“You’re welcome. And have a good day.” The receptionist called out before turning to work on another task as Rythian headed away from the reception, still frowning slightly at the map. He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d find in the shop the receptionist had pointed out to him, but he supposed he had to go and try to find out. Besides, he wasn’t going to get any less hungry standing about and looking at the map.

Rythian tucked the map away in his pocket, having attempted to memorise the route, before he stepped out onto the city streets, the rain seemingly have stopped for now. He had to pause as he stepped out, once again almost overwhelmed with the noise and the crowds, like he had been when he first stepped through the portal. There was so much happening here, so many people and sounds and bright flashing lights. It was almost too much to take in. Though gathering his courage, he stepped into the crowds, instantly being jostled as people either didn’t notice him there, or didn’t care.

Swallowing, and wrapping his scarf a little tighter, Rythian forged through the crowds, trying to not let his nerves and fears overtake him as he navigated along the streets, trying to find this shop.  
  
“Watch it, enderman.” A voice growled to his left as he accidentally jostled into someone, but before Rythian could see who it was or try to apologise, the crowds had moved on. Though a small upset frown crossed his face as he realised what the person had called him. Though maybe they didn’t know, maybe they didn’t realise that he was enderborn, that being called enderman was akin to being called a corpse. It was only a small difference between the two words after all.

Gathering his rapidly shrinking courage, Rythian moved on again, though each step became harder to take as it seemed more and more people were staring at him, some with open hostility in their eyes. What was going on? Surely this was just his imagination? He hadn’t noticed people staring at him when he was with Hannah. Surely he was just scared and nervous of being alone in this new place, and that’s all it was. He could do this. Another few steps forwards and someone who’d been looking at a device in their hands crashed into him.  
  
“Oh I’m sorry- oh.” Their apology fell flat as they looked up at Rythian and they pushed on by, not quite shoving him to the side, but not making any effort to move out of the way for him.

Rythian swallowed heavily, managing to make his way to the side of the crowds where he pressed his back against the wall of a building, staring out at the crowds. He hadn’t done anything wrong, had he? He hadn’t intentionally crashed into that person, and why had they stopped in their apology? Was he doing something wrong? Something he didn’t know about? Hannah hadn’t mentioned he was doing anything wrong when they were walking along the streets before. Maybe he was just overreacting, overreacting and hungry. That was probably it. He’d get to that Tesco and buy some food. Things would seem less scary and bad once he’d eaten something. Swallowing again, Rythian manoeuvred back into the crowds, though was being incredibly mindful to avoid everyone as much as possible.

Walking along the streets almost seemed to take forever, with his brain imagining stares from every person who glanced at him, but eventually Rythian caught sight of a sign in front of a shop, declaring it to be the Tesco that the receptionist had pointed out. Hesitantly he headed into the shop, having to sidestep a couple of impatient people as they tried to get past. Once he’d reached a corner, he stared around at the shop in awe. There was so much being sold, most of which he didn’t even recognise. Though a large sign announcing ‘Food To Go’ drew him closer and he found himself faced with a vast array of packaged foods, most proclaiming to be sandwiches. At least he’d heard of sandwiches before, even if he’d never actually tried one. Hesitating a little while longer as he stared at the vast array, he picked out two sandwiches, one for now and one for later.  
  
Sandwiches clutched tightly in his hands, Rythian glanced about for where to go next, eventually catching sight of a short queue of people in front of a desk. That seemed like the likely place to go, and if not, they could probably tell him where he needed to go. He stepped into the queue, slowly shuffling forwards as the queue did, eventually being called to the desk where an employee glanced up at him with a weary expression.  
  
“Uh, I,”  
  
“Are you buying those?” The employee asked, cutting Rythian off as they looked down at the sandwiches in his hands.  
  
“Yes, I,”  
  
“Hand them over then.” The employee held out their hand and Rythian hesitated before handing them over. They were scanned and a moment later handed back to him. “Three pounds.”  
  
“What?” Rythian frowned, not sure what the employee meant as they sighed and rolled their eyes.  
  
“Three pounds. That’s what you have to pay. Three pounds.” They said, slowing down their speech as they looked at Rythian almost like he was dumb.  
  
“Oh, oh, I am sorry…” Rythian mumbled, glancing down awkwardly as he set down the sandwiches and rummaged in his pockets for the money, pulling out a note and looking at it with a small, slightly confused expression. “Is this enough?”  
  
“That’s a five pound note. It’s plenty.” The employee said, rolling their eyes again and still speaking in the same slowed tone of voice, holding out their hand for the money.  
  
“Oh, ok.” Rythian nodded, handing over the note before swiftly being handed a couple of coins in return.  
  
“Would you like a receipt?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“A. Receipt.” The employee slowed down their words even more, speaking a little louder as they sighed again. Rythian hesitated, not having a clue what a receipt was, and he didn’t want to ask the employee to explain it for him. “Well? Do you want a receipt?” They asked, clearly getting rather fed up. Mutely Rythian shook his head, picking up his sandwiches and backing away from the desk as the employee sighed, calling the next customer forwards.  
  
Turning, Rythian headed out of the store, pressing himself up against the wall of the building again as he looked out over the crowds, trembling just slightly. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know everything yet, was it? And why had the employee talked at him like he was dumb? He knew he didn’t speak English perfectly, but he could understand them, he just didn’t know everything yet, like what a receipt was. Taking a slightly shaky breath, Rythian looked down at his sandwiches. He’d go eat them in his room. He didn’t want to stay outside any longer.  
  
Taking another breath, Rythian reached inside to where his flow of magic was, and accessing it, he conjured an image of his room in his mind and with a brief sensation of breathlessness and the world tipping on its side, he vanished from outside the shop and reappeared inside the room, the sudden silence both overwhelming and calming after all the noise and bustle he’d been surrounded with.

Still trembling ever so slightly, Rythian placed down the sandwiches on the bedside table, before he pulled off his shoes and curled himself up on the bed, picking up one of the sandwiches once he was comfy and he began nibbling at it, trying not to think too much about what had happened outside. Surely most of it was just his imagination, and things would be better when Hannah met up with him again.

The sandwich went down all too quickly, and it wasn’t really enough to fill him, but Rythian didn’t want to eat his only other sandwich just yet, and he certainly didn’t want to try going to the Tesco again. So instead, he brushed the crumbs from himself and curled up a little more on the bed, settling himself down slightly as he closed his eyes. Maybe some sleep would help, and at the very least, it would stop him from feeling so homesick and uncertain. And at least sleep was quick coming to him.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you coming from Thank You, Friend - thank you for sticking with me even after all this time and it probably having seemed like I'd completely abandoned the fic. I haven't, and I'm here now. As for that fic and this fic, there will be a decent amount of overlap, but assume everything after the prologue is wrong because I'm going to try writing that again in a way that I'm happier with. And assume the prologue happened as written in this fic.
> 
> For those of you coming here for the first time - uploads are probably going to be slow, and will happen as and when I write chapters. But thanks for giving this a go, and I'd recommend going to read the prologue of Thank You, Friend, even if just to pass the time while waiting for new chapter updates here.


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